How many driving lessons before you took your kid out to practice?

[StressedLP1]

Just wondering what others did.

I taught by DS the basics in a vary quiet car park and he’s now had three lessons with an instructor where they go in fairly quiet roads.

Shoujd I be taking him for practice now or wait till he’s had more lessons?

I took / take mine out as often as possible and then get them lessons when they are reasonably competent.

DS had about eight 2hr lessons before I took him out. We went to a quiet business park the first couple of times.

You must have nerves of steel Laura!

depends how your nerves are
more than 3 lessons i would l say since you dont have dual controls

Three lessons with an instructor and then I took both mine around industrial estates at weekends. After a couple of times we then progressed onto quiet roads whilst still having proper lessons.

Maybe I have. I started off simple. Took them to a car park and got them used to the bite point first, with the handbrake on. Then got them moving off smoothly but staying in first. Then got them changing gear. When I thought they were half-decent at that, we have a long, straight, dead-end road near us so they could get speed up and into 5th. When they mastered that, it was onto the open road.

I got them lessons when driving was second nature to them, just to bring them up to todays expectations.

Eldest passed his test first go. Middle one is due to start lessons soon after I have been taking him out for a year or more. Youngest is at the long straight road stage.

I found teaching the basics fine, it’s the traffic awareness I don’t really know how to ‘teach’.

I asked the driving instructor to tell me when he was confident that she would be OK in a car without dual controls.

Good thread! My dd is desperate for me to take her out in her car (a relative gifted her a very old golf) this car is not as easy as her instructors car, she kept stalling last time we went out, we were on quiet roads but a it was stressful. Shes had a couple more lessons since and wants to go out again this morning. Test booked for July, so no real hurry at this point.

I refuse to take my children out to practice. I just do not believe someone without a qualification should teach someone else to drive.

I didn't take any of mine out they only had lessons.

ii dont think it is teaching just practicing which is more helpful
@Enko

i took my ds out, i was very brave, but gave no comments as i was not his instructor

I don’t think the number of lessons matters because everyone takes to driving differently. Would the driving instructor tell you if they think it’s ok? Definitely start in an industrial estate on a Sunday morning or something!

I never took mine out. I'd really rather we continued to get on and that was more important to us both. My Dad taught me to drive and it was a very tricky and tense few months which I vowed never to repeat with my own children. DH had had a similar experience with his mother.

They (my DDs) paid for lessons with money from part-time jobs.

I went out with them in their own cars well after they had passed their tests. 😃 It still felt odd, although they were fine and in the end so was/am I.

That's just how it was for us. I admire anyone who can teach their own children to drive, or even give them practice. It's such a leap of faith, and needs nerves of steel.🙂

I took DS17 out before he had proper lessons. I thought we would spend a lot of time on the basics, but he got that really quickly and we were out on the open road after only a few hours. He's having proper lessons now, but I'm not convinced about the instructor 😫

Both dc from the morning they were 17 and before lessons. They then drove everywhere and as much as possible. It is so important they get road experience in different conditions and at night for example.

When I was learning, my dad made me drive home on the dual carriageway on my second time out. He did not tell me I would be doing this beforehand, just directed me out of the industrial estate onto this busy road with loads of other cars around 😱😱😱 (this was 12 years ago)

Maybe I'm a cheapskate, but we took our kids out as much as possible to minimise the cost of lessons. A lot of it is gaining practice of negotiating different situations/roads/weather etc

I waited until 10-12 lessons in for both of mine and checked with the instructor. Started slow and moved on to bigger roads once I was sure they could manage. I didn’t teach anything, just reinforced the advice given by the instructor and supported them with situational awareness and road experience.

Not quite what you were asking but I remember my dad taking me out once , we were out for all of 10 minutes before he told me something that my instructor told me not to do , we had a row and I stomped off home!
So unless you're confident with the rules of the road for passing your test , which let's face it we all pick up bad habits post pass I wouldn't bother !

I refused to take DS out. The extra insurance was 1k on our car so I said I would rather pay for extra lessons. In the end he only had around 17 lessons and passed first time. It cost around £500 for all his lessons, we block booked some and we paid as a birthday gift.

Dds instructor told us he'd let us know when. Turned out to be after 2 lessons.
She'd been having young driver lessons since she was 11( had about ten, really, really recommend these)
She passed her test after twelve 90 min lessons with just 2 minors.

I took mine to a car park to learn clutch control and then left them to it with their driving instructors.